The GOP Doesn't Need Trump--It's Already Rigged the System (good overview)

[applegrove]

The GOP Doesn't Need Trump—It's Already Rigged the System

EXCERPT

Dan Pfeiffer at the Daily Beast

Updated Feb. 18, 2020

https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-gop-doesnt-need-trumpits-already-rigged-the-system?ref=home

"SNIP.....


The following excerpt by Dan Pfeiffer outlines how Republicans have undermined the tenets of our democracy, effectively letting a minority of the country set policy and priorities for the majority that will extend decades. These and other serious issues are examined by Pfeiffer in his forthcoming book UN-TRUMPING AMERICA: A Plan to Make America a Democracy Again, which goes on sale today.

At its core politics is supposed to be pretty simple: If you get more votes you win and if you want to get something done, persuade a majority of Americans that it’s a good idea. If those rules were ever true, they certainly are not now. This has never been more evident than during the impeachment trial of Donald Trump. Trump was acquitted on a (near) party line after a short-circuited trial. This result was not because Democrats failed to convince the country of Trump’s guilt. Multiple polls showed upwards of 60 percent of Americans believe he broke the law, and a majority of Americans believed he should be removed from office. The Republicans knew they could confidently defy the will of the American people without consequences.

This is not an accident of history. It’s the result of a very deliberate strategy engineered by Mitch McConnell and funded by conservative billionaires to ensure that a shrinking, conservative, mostly white minority can hold on to power over a growing, progressive, diverse majority.  More than Jim Comey, or even Russia, this is why Trump won.

And until Democrats understand what has happened and what is at stake, we may win a few elections, but we will never be able to enact a progressive agenda.

.....SNIP"

[dchill]

1. "Republicans knew they could confidently defy..."

"...the will of the American people without consequences."

It becomes more evident every day.

[czarjak]

2. If you can't beat 'em, cheat 'em! Since forever.

[live love laugh]

3. Don't agree with this statement:

“It’s the result of a very deliberate strategy engineered by Mitch McConnell and funded by conservative billionaires to ensure that a shrinking, conservative, mostly white minority can hold on to power over a growing, progressive, diverse majority. ...”

I see it as the result of Republicans’ strategies—years before McConnell during Reagan. McConnell and Trump are come alongs who had the temerity to enforce an agenda already set in place.

[applegrove]

4. But they took it to another level.